In a recent report, 43 percent of the sexually active teenagers in Britain, aged between 16 and 19, have confessed to unsafe sex without adequate protection with new partners. This is far more than 36 percent of teenagers who responded the same way in 2009.

When asked about the reasons for having an unprotected sex with a new partner, 15 percent of respondents across Asia Pacific and 14 percent in Europe said they did not like contraception and 16 percent in Asia Pacific said their partner preferred not to use it. In Italy the number of people who said they do not like contraception has increased from 3 percent in 2010 to 24 percent now. As many as 23 percent of young people in Uganda and 13 percent in Slovenia said they had had sex without contraception with a new partner because they did not want to appear 'uncool'.

Jennifer Woodside, from the International Planned Parenthood Federation, was of the opinion that young people were not particularly well-informed about possible hazards to their health and did not, perhaps, feel the need to convince their partners to practice protected sex.

"Young people are telling us that they are not receiving enough sex-education and the wrong information on sex and sexuality. It should not come as a surprise that the result is many young people having unprotected sex and the flourishing of harmful myths in place of accurate information," Jennifer said in a statement.

The percentage of girls with unintended pregnancy rose from 36 to 55 percent and only 55 percent of the girls believed themselves to be well-informed about contraception, in comparison to 62 percent of the boys. Furthermore, 16 percent of the boys and girls admitted to finding the 'withdrawal method' convenient and 19 percent of the girls (and 16 percent of the boys) said they had not received any sort of sex-education.

The survey involved 26 countries and 5,426 young people in Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the USA as well as 600 people in Egypt, Kenya and Uganda and is supported by the WCD Youth Task Force and a coalition of 11 international organizations with an interest in sexual health. Two hundred British teenagers were surveyed as part of a study.

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